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Vancouver Off-Topic / Current EventsThe off-topic forum for Vancouver, funnies, non-auto centered discussions, WORK SAFE. While the rules are more relaxed here, there are still rules. Please refer to sticky thread in this forum.

WAR is coming....the Russians have bombed the crap out of the western backed rebels to the point of defeat...looks like this is the response that will be coming...This conflict would involve a large number of countries as well as the 2 Superpowers: USA and Russia. Also, a bomb went off in the Turkish capital and was blamed on Kurdish rebels out of Syria giving Turkey the ammunition to invade ......

Saudi Arabia has announced the launch of the most massive military drill ever staged in the Middle East; with over 20 Gulf states and other allied nations participating in the incredible display of military might.

The official Twitter account for North Thunder said the exercises were being held at King Khalid Military City in Hafr Al Batin from February 14 until March 10.

“A military exercise will be commanded by the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia with the participation of 20 countries and the Peninsula Shield force as well,” the account said. “The main objective is to demonstrate the high combat readiness of the participating armed forces and their readiness and ability to function successfully in joint operations,” the account said.

The drill, coined “Northern Thunder,” will include up to 350,000 troops, 20,000 tanks, 2,500 warplanes and 450 helicopters, and will coordinate the use of ground forces, as well as naval and air force personnel.

However, the reality underpinning the drill is far more convoluted than the House of Saud is willing to admit, and has little to do with regional stability.

What has actually taken place is that the Russian intervention into the Syrian conflict has usurped the Western-backed plan of providing material assistance to rebel groups attempting to overthrow the al-Assad government.

The Russian-backed offensive in Syria has resulted in the Azaz corridor, a major supply route for ‘covert’ CIA weapons shipments to the so-called “moderate rebels,” being shut down, which has left the U.S. scrambling for options to continue their campaign of regime change in Syria

__________________"There's a lot of dead people who had the right of way.""Never argue with stupid people, they will drag you down to their level and beat you with experience.""I have a lot of beliefs, and I live by none of them. They're just my beliefs, they make me feel good about who I am. But if they get in the way of a thing I want, like I wanna jack off or something, I just do that."

I still don't understand how anyone can call them "Moderate Rebels." There are no moderate headchoppers in the Middle East. At this point if we ever want ISIS gone we should let Russia and Assad handle it.

ISIS' allies Saudi Arabia and Turkey don't want them gone, and they happen to be the US' biggest allies in the region...

In a recent segment on BBC, Peter Ford, the UK Ambassador to Syria from 2003-2006, was asked if Assad is part of the solution in Syria to solve the so-called quagmire. He said:

“I think sadly, but inevitably, he is. Realistically, Assad is not going to be overthrown. This becomes more clear with every day that passes. Western analysts have been indulging in wishful thinking for 5 years; it’s time to get real, we owe it to the Syrian people to be much more realistic and hard headed about this. The West has to stop propping up the so-called ‘moderate opposition’, which is not moderate at all by the way, and it has to allow the Syrian Army backed possibly by the Russians to deal with IS.

”The frustrated interviewer asked Mr. Ford about “what we should have done,” and he responded that “we should have backed off, we should have not tried to overthrow the regime.” Mr. Ford eloquently added that this policy has been “like a dog returning to vomit.”

When has the US arming these fringe forces ever fucking worked in achieving their objective?

Russia seems to be the only country actually willing to act against Isis etc, even though they clearly have their own interests in mind as an end goal, I only see good coming out of bombing the absolute fuck out of these groups/areas harbouring any sort of "moderate rebels"

The US did the exact same thing in Iraq, chose a side, armed and equipped them, and once they leave it's a slaughter because it's impossible to put any sort of predominant party in control in these regions without segregating massive portions of the population.

the middle east has pretty much been in constant warfare for the past 60 years so i dont think things will change much

The middle east has been at war since the day we started writing down our history on papyrus.

That said, the North Americans aren't much better. America has been a nation for 239 years, and has been at war for 222 of those years. That's 93% of the time.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Eastwood

“we should have backed off, we should have not tried to overthrow the regime.” Mr. Ford eloquently added that this policy has been “like a dog returning to vomit.”[/B]

In my life, I've seen the Americans basically give birth to the Taliban by training the Afghanis in their fight against the Russians. I've seen them take a Saddam out of power, only to create instability in the region. I remember when Hugo Chavez was touted as a great leader for Venezuela. Then he stood up to the corporations, and was dropped by the Americans when he placed blame on them for the actions of terrorists in 9/11.

Does anyone remember the monkey, Bush, calling Chavez a part of the axis of evil?

cic is crazy, that's for sure.
But it doesn't take a genius to recognize the propaganda that has been spewed.

Its about time Saudi Arabia showed it's true colors. Reports now are coming out how they were the ones that funded and pulled off 911 not iraq.
The US saves them in dessert storm and this how they repay them LOL.
I guess having too much money/oil does go to your head and makes you think your god.

Its about time Saudi Arabia showed it's true colors. Reports now are coming out how they were the ones that funded and pulled off 911 not iraq.
The US saves them in dessert storm and this how they repay them LOL.
I guess having too much money/oil does go to your head and makes you think your god.

When was Iraq ever linked to 911? They were invaded because of supposed weapons of mass destruction.

Whatever. I stopped really caring about what happens in the Middle East. I'm interested in what happens but if everyone there wants to be dicks and fight each other, then nothing we can do will stop them so just place your bets and hope for the best.

Seriously, how many lives and trillions have been thrown at trying to achieve peace in the Middle East? Just let them do their thing. The US, Russia, everyone should just be like "Alright, how about none of us fight over these assholes?" and everyone backs off and let's them go at it.

Say what you want about me for saying this and I feel bad for thinking this way but I swear the world would be a better play with out those countries around but then again mankind would find something else to fight about since we are unable to live in peace sadly.

When was Iraq ever linked to 911? They were invaded because of supposed weapons of mass destruction.

When that fuckwit Cheney decided to start talking

Quote:

Vice President Dick Cheney had told Meet the Press on December 9, 2001, that Iraq was harboring Abdul Rahman Yasin, a suspect in the 1993 World Trade Center bombing,[14] and repeated the statement in another appearance on September 14, 2003, saying "We learned more and more that there was a relationship between Iraq and al-Qaida that stretched back through most of the decade of the '90s, that it involved training, for example, on BW and CW, that al-Qaida sent personnel to Baghdad to get trained on the systems that are involved. The Iraqis providing bomb-making expertise and advice to the al-Qaida organization. We know, for example, in connection with the original World Trade Center bombing in '93 that one of the bombers was Iraqi, returned to Iraq after the attack of '93. And we’ve learned subsequent to that, since we went into Baghdad and got into the intelligence files, that this individual probably also received financing from the Iraqi government as well as safe haven."[15] and once again in an interview with National Public Radio in January, 2004, stating that there had been "overwhelming evidence" of a relationship between Saddam and al-Qaeda based on evidence including Iraq's purported harboring of Yasin.[16]

In the same Meet the Press interviews, Cheney implied a connection between Iraq and Mohamed Atta; "The Czech interior minister said today that an Iraqi intelligence officer met with Mohammed Atta, one of the ringleaders of the September 11 terrorists attacks on the United States, just five months before the synchronized hijackings and mass killings were carried out."[14] and "With respect to 9/11, of course, we’ve had the story that’s been public out there. The Czechs alleged that Mohamed Atta, the lead attacker, met in Prague with a senior Iraqi intelligence official five months before the attack, but we’ve never been able to develop any more of that yet either in terms of confirming it or discrediting it. We just don’t know."[15] Czech officials have since backed off of this claim, and even Cheney has since acknowledged that the notion "that the meeting ever took place" has been "pretty well knocked down now."[17] (See Mohamed Atta's alleged Prague connection.)

Hate on me but my view is the Middle East has been in a perpetual Dark Age due to constant interference by empires / superpowers. The influence and resulting propaganda are strong. This Dark Age needs to end a Renaissance era needs to begin but it won't. The innocent civilians are constantly strangled by militias, corrupt governments and intolerant interlopers.

We don't need a Roman style empire to erode the world anymore. We now have the much more sophisticated Euro-American style of corporate backed dominance hidden under angelic words such as Freedom, Liberty, Prosperity etc.

Middle east is a shit show because western powers drew up imaginary borders post WW2 and created a Jewish country out of thin air which displaced millions of muslims causing widespread hatred for western powers.

Saudi had a new king last year
He has been pretty ruthless and a hardliner...
I wouldn't be too surprised if he go all out war to "assert his dominance"...

(Things I wouldn't say in real life...)
Can't we just leave those middle east fuckers alone? People always said..."oh there are dictators & wars, and the poor innocent civilians are suffering... we gotta help them!"
But I never felt those civilians are really that "innocent". Most of them has been raised/brainwashed to hate on some other groups.
They want peace and stability for themselves, but most would happily support groups that are intended on wrecking and killing the people they hate (Shia, sunni, arab, palestinians, jewish..etc), or religious fanatics that believe all those who do not adhere to their religion and rules should be killed.

The general population and its cultures, hatred towards one another is the cause of all the turmoils in the region...not just because of some "dictators".
(When you kill 1 dictator, 6 more pops out.....look at what's happened to Libya, Egypt, Yemen, etc after they overthrown their "dictators")

I would be happy to help those who are genuinely peaceful, and able to integrate into our cultures (believe in personal, religious freedom, toloreance, women equality, etc), but I think they are more like the rare exceptions instead of the norm

While the US was invading Afghanistan shortly after 9/11, I started reading Caravans by James A. Michener. It was written in the 60's , historical fiction set after WW2, but it gave me great incite into Afghanistan and the Middle East. It showed the complexities of the region, the failure of western attempts at influence and modernization, etc. Don't bother with the movie based on it - it made major changes and ruined the overall message.